Pie we must remember we are a great city in Yorkshire

Nigel Hofmann and his daughter Emily have made a WFD Pie, pictured in Wakefield Cathedral with the Dean of Wakefield Simon Cowling and Elizabeth Murphy (BID Manager)

Holly Gittins

Published:14:53Friday 07 December 2018

Share this article

A pork pie with a rhubarb topping will help to celebrate Wakefield’s 130th anniversary of city status.

The new WFD PIE, created and championed by Hofmann’s of Wakefield, is based on the family butchers’ traditional secret recipe, but features the added twist of a rhubarb topping - a vegetable famously from the city.

It was created as part of the WFD 130 campaign, which aims to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Wakefield being granted city status.

Nigel Hofmann, whose great, great grandfather opened Hofmann’s butchers in 1896, said: “I think Wakefield is sometimes Yorkshire’s forgotten city, so it’s nice to be involved with something to make some noise about it.

“We’ve won the Great Yorkshire Pork Pie competition eight times over last three decades, which we think is the biggest pie competition around, so working with Wakefield BID to create the WFD PIE made perfect sense.

“The pork is sourced fresh from across Yorkshire and it’s then hand-blended with a secret family recipe of herbs and spices that has been passed through the generations, tweaking as we go, to adapt to modern changes in taste.

“The pastry needs to be crisp – the magic is in the way it is mixed and getting the right thickness.”

The WFD 130 campaign, led by Wakefield BID, aims to remind people that Wakefield is a city – and not a town – as part of a wider long-term plan to encourage more people to visit and more businesses to setup in the city centre.

Elizabeth Murphy, Manager of Wakefield BID, said: “Wakefield city centre is famous for pies and for rhubarb, so we’ve combined these ingredients to create something fun and special. A taste of Wakefield – literally.

“We want to play our part in reinvigorating that passion through pride and partnership to shout about our city, our amazing shops, cafes, restaurants, attractions.”

The limited edition pies are now on sale at Hofmann’s stores in the city centre, and will remain available until Christmas.